Agriculture for Beginners Part 26

The horse should be groomed every day. This keeps the pores of the skin open and the hair bright and glossy. When horses are working hard, the harness should be removed during the noon hour. During the cool seasons of the year, whenever a horse is wet with sweat, it should on stopping work, or when standing for awhile, be blanketed, for the animal is as liable as man to get cold in a draft or from moisture evaporating rapidly from its skin.

EXERCISE

If the pupil will take an ordinary tape measure, he can make some measurements of the horse that will be very interesting as well as profitable. Let him measure:

1. The height of the horse at the withers, 1 to 1.

2. The height of the horse at croup, 2 to 2.

3. Length of shoulder, 1 to 3.

4. Length of back, 4.

5. Length of head, 5.

6. Depth of body, 6 to 6.

7. Daylight under body, 7 to 7.

8. Distance from point of shoulder to quarter, 3 to 3.

9. Width of forehead.

10. Width between hips.

NOTE. Many interesting comparisons can be made (1) by measuring several horses; (2) by studying the proportion between parts of the same horse.

PROPORTIONS OF A HORSE

1. How many times longer is the body than the head? Do you get the same result from different horses?

2. How does the height at the withers compare with the height at the croup?

3. How do these compare with the distance from quarter to shoulder?

4. How does the length of the head compare with the thickness of the body and with the open s.p.a.ce, or "daylight," under the body?

SECTION LIV. CATTLE

All farm animals were once called _cattle_; now this term applies only to beef and dairy animals--neat cattle.

Our improved breeds are descended from the wild ox of Europe and Asia, and have attained their size and usefulness by care, food, and selection. The uses of cattle are so familiar that we need scarcely mention them. Their flesh is a part of man's daily food; their milk, cream, b.u.t.ter, and cheese are on most tables; their hides go to make leather, and their hair for plaster; their hoofs are used for glue, and their bones for fertilizers, ornaments, b.u.t.tons, and many other purposes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 247. A PRIZE-WINNER]

There are two main cla.s.ses of cattle--beef breeds and dairy breeds. The princ.i.p.al breeds of each cla.s.s are as follows:

I. _Beef Breeds_

1. Aberdeen-Angus, bred in Scotland, and often called _doddies_.

2. Galloway, from Scotland.

3. Shorthorn, an English breed of cattle.

4. Hereford, also an English breed.

5. Suss.e.x, from the county of Suss.e.x, England.

II. _Dairy Breeds_

1. Jersey, from the Isle of Jersey.

2. Guernsey, from the Isle of Guernsey.

3. Ayrs.h.i.+re, from Scotland.

4. Holstein-Frisian, from Holland and Denmark.

5. Brown Swiss, from Switzerland.

Other breeds of cattle are Devon, Dutch Belted, Red-Polled, Kerry, and West Highland.

In general structure there is a marked difference between the beef and dairy breeds. This is shown in Figs. 248, 249. The beef cow is square, full over the back and loins, and straight in the back. The hips are covered evenly with flesh, the legs full and thick, the under line, or stomach line, parallel to the back line, and the neck full and short.

The eye should be bright, the face short, the bones of fine texture, and the skin soft and pliable.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 248. ABERDEEN-ANGUS COW (A BEEF TYPE)]

The dairy cow is widely different from the beef cow. She shows a decided wedge shape when you look at her from front, side, or rear. The back line is crooked, the hip bones and tail bone are prominent, the thighs thin and poorly fleshed; there is no breadth to the back, as in the beef cow, and little flesh covers the shoulders; the neck is long and thin.

The udder of the dairy cow is most important. It should be full but not fleshy, be well attached behind, and extend well forward. The larger the udder the more milk will be given.

The skin of the dairy cow, like that of the beef breeds, should be soft and pliable and the bones fine-textured.

=The Dairy Type.= Because of lack of flesh on the back, loins, and thighs, the cow of the dairy type is not profitably raised for beef, nor is the beef so good as that of the beef types. This is because in the dairy-animal food goes to produce milk rather than beef. In the same way the beef cow gives little milk, since her food goes rather to fat than to milk. For the same reasons that you do not expect a plow horse to win on the race track, you do not expect a cow of the beef type to win premiums as a milker.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 249. JERSEY COW (A DAIRY TYPE)]

"Scrub" cattle are not profitable. They mature slowly and consequently consume much food before they are able to give any return for it. Even when fattened, the fat and lean portions are not evenly distributed, and "choice cuts" are few and small.

By far the cheapest method of securing a healthy and profitable herd of dairy or beef cattle is to save only the calves whose sires are pure-bred animals and whose mothers are native cows. In this way farmers of even little means can soon build up an excellent herd.

=Improving Cattle.= The fact that it is not possible for every farmer to possess pure-bred cattle is no reason why he should not improve the stock he has. He can do this by using pure-bred sires that possess the qualities most to be desired. Scrub stock can be quickly improved by the continuous use of good sires. It is never wise to use grade, or cross-bred, sires, since the best qualities are not fixed in them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 250. HEAD OF A GALLOWAY COW]

Moreover, it is possible for every farmer to determine exactly the producing-power of his dairy cows. When the cows are milked, the milk should be weighed and a record kept. If this be done, it will be found that some cows produce as much as five hundred, and some as much as ten hundred, gallons a year, while others produce not more than two or three hundred gallons. If a farmer kills or sells his poor cows and keeps his best ones, he will soon have a herd of only heavy milkers. Ask your father to try this plan. Read everything you can find about taking care of cows and improving them, and then start a herd of your own.

=Conclusions.= (1) A cow with a tendency to get fat is not profitable for the dairy. (2) A thin, open, angular cow will make expensive beef.

(3) "The sire is half the herd." This means that a good sire is necessary to improve a herd of cattle. The improvement from scrubs upward is as follows: the first generation is one-half pure; the second is three-fourths pure; the third is seven-eighths pure; the fourth is fifteen-sixteenths pure, etc. (4) By keeping a record of the quant.i.ty and quality of milk each cow gives you can tell which are profitable to raise from and which are not. (5) Good food, clean water, kindness, and care are necessary to successful cattle-raising.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 251. HOLSTEIN COW]

The owners.h.i.+p of a well-bred animal usually arouses so much pride in the owner that the animal receives all the care that it merits. The watchful care given to such an animal leads to more thought of the other animals on the farm, and often brings about the upbuilding of an entire herd.

SECTION LV. SHEEP

The sheep was perhaps the first animal domesticated by man, and to-day the domesticated sheep is found wherever man lives. It is found domesticated or wild in almost every climate, and finds means to thrive where other animals can scarcely live; it provides man with meat and clothing, and is one of the most profitable and most easily cared-for of animals.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 252. A YOUNG SHEPHERD]

Sheep increase so rapidly, mature at such an early age, and have flesh so wholesome for food that nearly every farm should have its flock.

Another consideration that may be urged in favor of sheep-raising is that sheep improve the land on which they are pastured.